With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven.

Terkel smoked two cigars a day until 2004. This show along with Marlin Perkins's Zoo Parade Garroway at Large and the children's show Kukla Fran and Ollie are widely considered canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television. He also served as a distinguiStuds Terkeld scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum.

Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16 1912 – October 31 2008) was an American author historian actor and broadcaster.